Loci: Convergence
Mathematical Quotations
Our library of quotations is organized alphabetically by surname of the author.
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Thales (ca. 600 BC)
I will be
sufficiently
rewarded if when
telling it to others
you will not claim
the discovery as
your own, but will
say it was mine.
Thomas R. Nicely
Usually mathematicians have to shoot somebody to get this much publicity.
[On the attention he received after finding the flaw in Intel's Pentium chip in 1994]
Thompson, D'Arcy Wentworth (1860-1948)
Cell and tissue, shell and bone, leaf and flower, are so many portions of matter, and it is in obedience to the laws of physics that their particles have been moved, moulded and conformed. They are no exceptions to the rule that God always geometrizes. Their problems of form are in the first instance mathematical problems, their problems of growth are essentially physical problems, and the morphologist is, ipso facto, a student of physical science.
Thomson, [Lord Kelvin] William (1824-1907)
Fourier is a mathematical poem.
Thoreau
He is not a true man of science who does not bring some sympathy to his studies, and expect to learn something by behavior as well as by application. It is childish to rest in the discovery of mere coincidences, or of partial and extraneous laws. The study of geometry is a petty and idle exercise of the mind, if it is applied to no larger system than the starry one. Mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics; that is mixed mathematics. The fact which interests us most is the life of the naturalist. The purest science is still biographical.
Tietze
The story was told
that the young
Dirichlet had as a
constant companion
[in] all his
travels, like a
devout man with his
prayer book, an old,
worn copy of the
Disquisitiones
Arithmeticae of
Gauss.
Tillotson, Archbishop
How often might a man, after he had jumbled a set of letters in a bag, fling them out upon the ground before they would fall into an exact poem, yea, or so much as make a good discourse in prose. And may not a little book be as easily made by chance as this great volume of the world.
Titchmarsh, E. C.
Perhaps the most
surprising thing
about mathematics is
that it is so
surprising. The
rules which we make
up at the beginning
seem ordinary and
inevitable, but it
is impossible to
foresee their
consequences. These
have only been found
out by long study,
extending over many
centuries. Much of
our knowledge is due
to a comparatively
few great
mathematicians such
as Newton, Euler,
Gauss, or Riemann;
few careers can have
been more satisfying
than theirs. They
have contributed
something to human
thought even more
lasting than great
literature, since it
is independent of
language.
Titchmarsh, E. C.
It can be of no
practical use to
know that Pi is
irrational, but if
we can know, it
surely would be
intolerable not to
know.
Todhunter, Isaac (1820-1910)
[Asked whether he
would like to see an
experimental
demonstration of
conical
refraction:]
No.
I have been teaching
it all my life, and
I do not want to
have my ideas upset.
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